Posts Tagged ‘balm’

Most of us have a browbone highlighting pencil, right? Well, you must use it to do this too! You can think of it as contouring your lips: you lighten what you want to appear fuller and you shade the rest. Here’s how:

One of my favorite things to do is to pick a feature and compare the different ways that we can accentuate and define it. Today, let’s take the browbone; the area just underneath the brow. Daily, for the most part, I leave mine bare. Not because visually that’s my favorite look, but probably because these days I like to keep my morning routine fast and minimal. But if you watch me makeup my clients, I always either use a highlighter or a balm to add a little life to the area. It draws the attention to the brow, which has the important task of framing the eye. So let’s compare them and decide which one we like the best!

TOOLS:

Your Favorite Highlighter: I love this one used on Chloe above ($$) and this one ($).

Every winter we get tons of requests asking how to battle dry skin. With our heaters blasting and the drier climate, our faces really takes a beating. We pile on the night cream, wake up in the middle of the night only to touch our skin and gasp because all of the moisturizer is gone! We wonder where it went… was half absorbed and the other half evaporated from the heater?? Don’t give up just yet. There is a way to “seal” your night cream and create a moisture barrier so it lasts all night; you just need to lock it in with a face balm. I have acne-prone skin so was a little hesitant to try face balms a few years ago but was so desperate to find something for the dry patches each winter that I took the plunge when a client actually recommended them to me… and was happily surprised when I didn’t break out and the dry patch on my chin healed. Here’s how:

Today we’re making a case for why our fingers are our best tool! I was forced to learn this when I arrived overseas for a job and the bag with my brushes in it didn’t make it. With no time to go shopping, I sanitized my hands and just got in there! Brushes of course are amazing, but you might be surprised when you give your fingers a try. Why? Because your body temperature slightly melts the product, helping it to really become one with your skin instead of just sitting on top of it. And you can really press it into your skin as you stipple and tap your way around each feature. Here’s what you need to know to pull off finger painting in a way that actually lasts:

Cream Blush — We live for RMS Beauty Lip2Cheek Cream Blush (especially when we find it on sale!) because it’s a natural product that was developed by the iconic Rose Marie Swift who is responsible for the makeup in almost every Victoria’s Secret and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit campaign you’ve every gushed over. Her line is everything. We also really love Jouer Cheek Tint and have for years because it doesn’t disappear in a few hours.

First wash your hands with anti-bacterial soap or use a hand sanitizer. After applying foundation (with your fingers so you can really massage it into the skin), swipe your ring finger against the cream eye shadow and tap and smear it along the upper and lower lid. You can choose a matte shade, a bright shade or a metallic shade… the possibilities are endless.

Tap your index finger into the cream blush then tap it against your other index finger to warm it up and create more of a “slip”. Then smile in the mirror to pop out the apples and tap it along the upper half of the each apple as you work your way across your cheekbone. Tap and swirl until it melts into your skin and looks like a natural flush.

Swipe your middle finger against the tinted lip balm and press it into the lip area for a really natural and gorgeous sheer pop of color.

We also love using our fingers with powder products too. Metallic, shimmer and glitter shadows actually work better with our fingers than a brush because you press it into the skin. You can use your fingers with matte shadows if you’re in a jam, but they can get muddy and work better with the sweep of a brush, as do powder blush and powder bronzer.